Stereotypically Speaking!!! 🗣️🎤
Performance Poetry~The words that I wanted to say...
When
I
was
a
teenager
an
Asian-American
classmate
once
remarked:
"You
don't
act
like
a
Black
person.
They're
usually
loud
&
always
cracking
jokes."
My response to this stereotype was silence.
What I wanted to say was: "I hate to break it to you but Black people come in all varieties and demeanors!"😱
"According to your narrow & biased mindset... I am supposed to… become Mrs. Bojangles… every time I see you… with a well-worn… Court Jester hat on my head… and a pocket full of jokes… at the ready… for the masses…?" 🤗
"Remember classmate…
I am NOT…
nor is my race…
solely here to entertain yours…
or anyone else's…!" 👍🏾
"ALL races are here…
on God's green earth…🌏
to nurture one another…" 🤝🏾🤝🏽🤝🏻🤝
"Please remember that… the next time that… YOU… decide to spew this… foolishness into… the atmosphere…!" ✊🏾
########:::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Epilogue: Sometimes silence is golden. I'm glad that I responded the way that I did because there is a 98% chance that my classmate meant no harm. But, I do believe that stereotypes CAN negatively infect a young person's mindset and they're downright silly. What if, as a young person, I had embraced the stereotype and steered away from writing because Black people are supposed to partake in more "LOUD" professions? I just may have missed my calling. In the end, this proved to be a very cathartic piece for me to write, once I finally let my true feelings out onto the page. :) A wise person once said: "Life and death are in the power of the tongue!" I agree. Therefore, we must be mindful of the way that we use our words, Beautiful people.
########::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Much love,
Tiffa Go 🌸
About the Creator
Tiffany Gordon
I am a super-spiritual, fun-loving artist, writer, & peer-counselor residing in the Pacific Northwest. I am also an Institute of Children's Literature alumna who enjoys writing about the triumph of the human spirit.
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Violence Begets
"Any last words, cowboy?" "None you'd understand, sodbuster." "Funny. That's Marshall Sodbuster to you. But I meant some last nugget that would help us in the adjudication of the myriad offenses counted against you and your gang. I wasn't asking for penitence."
By Adam Diehl5 days ago in Fiction
Comments (8)
I get that too...like we all don't see people of every hue being loud and behaving badly like all people on earth don't have good and bad days and we just don't need to see each other as people...PEOPLE, we all are people. Stop judging...yet we all judge sometimes...just people being people....people.
I couldn't agree more with you.
A timeless and relevant piece no matter when you read it. I find so much wisdom within the stories that you write. Another young/old soul on a second life journey to this world. Vocal you are for sure.
Wow! I never saw this one until today. Very well said...All of it. And Thank you.
I appreciate the truth and love you show in your works. Thank you for sharing your story :)
Re-read! Previously hearted!!!
❤️people want to put you in a category. God made us all different. People think we should act a certain way .Excellent poem
I have read this poem several times now. An important message!